Mary Desha was one of four women who founded the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. She spent much of her life helping establish and sustain the society.

Born in 1850 in Lexington, Kentucky to a father who was a prominent physician and a grandfather who was a Kentucky governor, the Desha’s comfortable lifestyle had been diminished by losses during the Civil War. Mary, or “Miss Molly,” as she was called as a child, attended State College, now the University of Kentucky.

Because the family inheritance was not sufficient to support her, Mary became a teacher in private and public school. In 1888 she accepted a teaching position in Sitka, Alaska. She was appalled by conditions among the Native Americans and insisted upon a federal investigation of the Alaskan territory’s schools.

In 1889, she returned to Lexington and shortly thereafter accepted a post in Washington, D.C. as clerk in the U.S. Pension Bureau, and later as a copyist in the Office of Indian Affairs.

The National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution was incorporated in 1891 to preserve the history and memorabilia of the American Revolution. The organization was the result of a decision in 1890 by the Sons of the American Revolution, an organization founded to "offer men opportunities to perpetuate the memory of ancestors who fought to make this country free and independent" voted to exclude women from their organization.

Desha devoted her life to the DAR. She was the first DAR Vice President General and designed the DAR seal. She was also assistant director of the DAR hospital corps during the Spanish American War.

Desha died in 1911 and was buried in the historic Lexington Cemetery.